New state rules put Kendall County Circuit Clerk in hiring mode

YORKVILLE – When it comes to maintaining court files, the Manual on Record Keeping is the Bible for circuit court clerks in Illinois.

The Illinois Supreme Court recently announced new rules governing how court files are to be recorded and how they may be accessed, effective Jan. 1 of this year.

Kendall County Circuit Clerk Matthew Prochaska said the rule-changes mean more work for the 24 employees in his office.

Prochaska will be hiring another full-time employee and a part-time worker to help manage court files to keep his office in compliance with the high court directive.

“We need these employees to keep up with our statutory responsibilities to keep and maintain the court records,” Prochaska said.

The Kendall County Board on Feb. 1 voted to approve the additional employees for the circuit clerk’s office.

Both of the new hires will be assigned to the criminal traffic division, Prochaska said.

One of the new rules handed down by the Supreme Court addresses traffic citations. According to the high court website, “multiple citations issued to the same accused for more than one offense arising out of the same occurrence are now excluded from being assigned separate case numbers.”

Instead, “Each accused shall be assigned a single case number containing multiple counts when more than one citation is issued arising out of the same occurrence.”

Prochaska said the two positions will be paid out of a reserve fund and will effectively be “budget neutral.” The tenure for the posts will run through the end of the county’s fiscal year, which is Nov. 30.

The full-time post will be pro-rated using the annual $27,250 starting salary in the circuit clerk’s office, Prochaska said. The part-time position is being budgeted at $10,000, he said.

Ongoing personnel turnover in the circuit clerk’s office means that the individuals hired likely will not lose their jobs at the end of the budget year, because of attrition in the workforce, Prochaska explained.

Meanwhile, Prochaska said he is implementing new technologies in the circuit clerk’s office that will make record keeping more streamlined and paperless.